A happy ending? As soon as Daniele Mastrogiacomo, the Italian journalist of the daily newspaper La Repubblica, kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan two weeks ago, arrived home safely yesterday evening, a row started in Italy over the terms under which he was released: five Taliban terrorists freed immediately from prison, Ramhatullah Hanefi (the emergency mediator who conducted the negotiations to free Mastrogiacomo) arrested and unreachable, Aymal Naqshbandi, Mastrogiacomo’s interpreter, disappeared, probably transferred from the Taliban prisons to those of the secret services, and his driver, Sayed Agha, beheaded. When Agha’s wife, six months pregnant, heard of the horrible end of her husband, she suffered a miscarriage.

Italian media and politicians don’t seem to be paying much attention to all this horror: what’s important is that "our" journalist got home safely, hugging his wife and kids and colleagues with his thumbs up as soon as he landed in Italy. Italian public opinion is divided on whether it was a good idea to give in to the Talibans’ demands, because this might pave the way to future kidnappings, given that they now know that the Italian government will pay up.

The debate is about to shift to centre stage in parliament after the wounding yesterday of an Italian soldier in guerilla fire in western Afghanistan: should Italy withdraw its peace-keeping troups from Afghanistan? A poll by Ipr Marketing for La Repubblica today shows that 51% of Italians approve of the negotiation with the Taliban and 54% want peace talks with them.

Afghan journalists, meanwhile, are outraged that the Italian media is celebrating the freedom of Mastrogiacomo: is the life of an Afghan worth less than that of an Italian? Today’s Italian press - especially La Repubblica- is so full of excitement for the safe return of its own reporter it barely mentions the Afghans, counting them among the many "normal" casualties of international conflicts.

The exception is La Stampa’s Massimo Gramellini, whose Buongiorno column today is dedicated to the poor beheaded driver, who - after all - died while trying to make a living driving irresponsible journalists in dangerous places.

Mastrogiacomo himself didn’t say much about Agha’s sacrifice: in his first interviews he told of his horror at witnessing the beheading - not a horror born of pity, more worried that he would be next. Later he said that he was "convinced" that his interpreter would be released (where did this idea come from? Nobody seems interested in finding out), and that he felt that his driver sold him to the Taliban, therefore paying with his life for his ambiguous role. In the meantime, the Italian journalist has already made clear that he will not return in Afghanistan - too dangerous. Whose happy ending?